Ethiopia

A Canadian court released its decision on a landmark 2010 ruling Monday, upholding the legalization of brothels and pimping in the province of Ontario, saying the law helps to ensure the safety of women involved in the country's already legal prostitution industry. 

The Ontario Court of Appeal made its decision to uphold the 2010 ruling by Ontario Superior Court Justice Susan Himel, which held that the criminalization of brothels and "non-exploitative" commercial relationships between prostitutes and pimps was "unconstitutional."

The court reasoned on Monday that its decided to uphold the controversial 2010 decision because it would make prostitution safer for those who are employed in the notoriously dangerous sex industry. more >>

NAIROBI, Kenya – A Christian convert from Islam who fled hostilities in his native Ethiopia has faced attempted murder and ongoing death threats in Kenya.

Somali Muslim extremists in Kenya kidnapped and tried to kill Barack Hussein Kedir in July 2010, and most recently Kenyan-born Islamic extremists in contact with their co-religionists in Ethiopia sent a death threat to his cell phone on Dec. 3, the Christian told Compass. Since then, Hussein has reported the threatening text message to police, and his wife has fled the country with their two children.

"Although I have been experiencing all these countless problems, suffering persecution and merciless harassment both in my own country and outside of the country, I have never given up or lost my hope in serving the Lord," Hussein said. "Muslims have tried to murder me several times, even here in Kenya." more >>

More than 500 Muslims have been given prison sentences in Ethiopia for violent attacks against Christians that left one dead, and 69 churches burned to the ground, reports International Christian Concern (ICC).

An Ethiopian court sentenced 579 Muslim extremists to between three and 18 months in prison for violence that lasted an entire week against Christians beginning on March 2, 2011.

ICC has also reported that 107 individuals stand accused under terrorism-related charges for their roles in the attacks, as well as eight gang leaders that authorities are still looking for. more >>

At least one Christian was killed and others injured when thousands of Islamic extremists set fire to 59 churches and at least 28 homes in western Ethiopia in the past five days, Christian leaders said.

More than 4,000 Christians in and around Asendabo, Jimma Zone have been displaced as a result of attacks that began on Wednesday (March 2) after Muslims accused a Christian of desecrating the Quran by tearing up a copy, sources said.

“The atrocity is still going on, and more people are suffering,” said a source in Addis Ababa who is in close contact with area church leaders. more >>

NAIROBI, Kenya (Compass Direct News) – A Christian in Ethiopia’s southern town of Moyale who languished in jail for more than three months after he was accused of desecrating the Quran has been sentenced to three years of prison, church leaders said.

Tamirat Woldegorgis, a member of the Full Gospel Church in his early 30s, was arrested in early August after a Muslim co-worker in the clothes-making business the two operated out of a rented home discovered Woldegorgis had inscribed “Jesus is Lord” on some cloth, area Christians said. His business partner later accused him of writing “Jesus is Lord” in a copy of the Quran, although no evidence of that ever surfaced.

Woldegorgis was sentenced on Nov. 18 for allegedly defacing the Quran and was subsequently transferred to Jijiga prison, a source said. Jijiga is the capital of Ethiopia’s Somali Region Zone Five, which is governed by Islamic principles, and his transfer there – after a period in which his whereabouts were unknown – puts his life in greater danger, a church leader said. more >>

NAIROBI, Kenya (Compass Direct News) – A Christian in Ethiopia’s southern town of Moyale has been languishing in jail for two months after his Muslim business partner accused him of writing “Jesus is Lord” in a copy of the Quran, local church leaders said.

Tamirat Woldegorgis, a member of the Full Gospel Church in his early 30s, was arrested in early August after the Muslim co-worker in the clothes-making business the two operated out of a rented home discovered Woldegorgis had inscribed “Jesus is Lord” on some cloth, area Christians said.

Woldegorgis returned from a break one morning to find that the inscribed words had been cut out of the piece of cloth, the sources said. He then had the words set in the machinery of their tailoring business for inscription on clothing material, only to find later that the inscribed plates were removed from the machinery as well, they said. more >>